Third-rate ‘stars’ cost RTÉ world class music

ONLY a few short weeks have passed since I attended one of the most enjoyable performances I have sat through in years. It was a screening of Jaws, the original summer blockbuster, in the magnificent surroundings of the Royal Albert Hall.

Like practically everyone else of my era, I’d seen it on countless previous occasions. But the difference this time around was that composer John Williams’s brilliant score was being played live by the BBC Concert Orchestra. Suffice to say that it was a highly atmospheric experience.

There were two reasons I’d booked the tickets in the first place. The first was that Jaws just happens to be my good lady wife’s favourite film of all time. Almost as important, though, was the fact that we had hugely enjoyed the only other similar event that we’d ever attended.

It was on Halloween six years ago that we trekked along to a showing of the 1935 horror classic Bride Of Frankenstein – starring Boris Karloff – at the National Concert Hall. The ladies and gents of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra were there to perform the creepy soundtrack. Despite the fact that the sight of oboe player David Agnew’s mulletstyle hairdo was far more disturbing than anything on the big screen, it was still a great afternoon.

Now there are rumblings that the orchestra faces being merged with the National Symphony Orchestra, which is also run by the national broadcaster. There is a review under way into the entire operation and its findings are expected early next year.

Excuse the pun, but it doesn’t sound good. The man in charge of the Montrose orchestras, Aodán Ó Dubhghaill, has previously said that they ‘have a singular place in Irish musical heritage and have nurtured, through performance and education, generations of world-class musicians’. He added that ‘a modern European democracy should protect its classical musicians and artists as a key part of the fabric of our societies and the culture that binds us’.

But a subsequent statement had a far weaker ring to it. ‘RTÉ’s overall funding position is well-known and it is incumbent on RTÉ to consider and assess its role in the provision of orchestral music as it plans for the future,’ said Mr Ó Dubhghaill.

Okay, so we get the picture. The parlous state of the finances at Montrose requires urgent action. Tell us something we don’t know.

And yes, there may well be a case to be made that the national broadcaster simply cannot afford the luxury of two heavily staffed musical ensembles. Four years ago, I took the trouble of finding out what exactly distinguishes the two different sorts of orchestra.

It seems that the symphony type is made up of at least 80 musicians and plays a repertoire mainly consisting of classical music from the 18th century onwards. Meanwhile, concert orchestras tend to be smaller, playing everything from classical to pop and big-band numbers to the aforementioned movie scores.

Back then, concerns were also being raised about the cost of the whole operation. I even suggested that if one of them was to go, then the National Symphony Orchestra could hardly object to ‘knocking out the occasional version of A Hard’s Day Night or the theme from Doctor Zhivago if it means them remaining in gainful employment’.

But I’m ready to admit now that this was missing the point. The cost of funding the station’s orchestral operation comes to €13million a year, which is around 7% of licence fee income. We’re talking chickenfeed here in the broader scheme of things. No, the cuts would be far better made elsewhere. There are glorified pen-pushers in RTÉ being paid vastly bloated salaries just because they managed to hang around long enough to inch their way up the greasy pole. Meanwhile, there is the scandal of third-rate presenters getting BBC-type money even though they wouldn’t even get through the front door of Broadcasting House for an audition.

That, frankly, is where the savings should be targeted. And if no one currently holding the purse-strings in Montrose is prepared to do it, then someone who is willing should be parachuted in without any further delay.